Pushing 50: the U.S. challenge
With cheap gas and diverse scenery, Americans are switching to a new trend — visiting all 50 states
I recently reached a goal that I’ve been working on for most of my life: I visited all 50 states.
And I’ve been surprised by how many others I know who have been on the very same quest. “We’re seeing more and more people with this goal,” said Alicia Rovey, founder of the All Fifty States Club, in an interview for AP Travel’s Get Outta Here! podcast. “It seems like any room you go in, there’s at least one person that is trying to get to all 50.”
What’s behind the trend? Gas is cheap. The 50-state bucket list appeals to all age groups, from millennials who love to travel, to folks who travel a lot for work, to empty nesters and retirees.
For Americans, travelling around the U.S. is also cheaper and less daunting logistically than travelling internationally. And because the U.S. is so big and diverse, every region has something different to offer, from cities to farms, from mountains to beaches, from Southern food to Tex-Mex.
Some travellers use apps or online maps to track their travels. Others use real maps. Alyssa Kauanoe sells a product online called JetsetterMaps (US$28), that lets travellers “scratch off the states you’ve been to and get your own personalized travel map.”
Because there’s no real way to check on those applying for membership in the All Fifty club, “we don’t ask for proof,” said Rovey. “It’s kind of an honour system.”
For a visit to count, Rovey says, “You have to touch the ground and breathe the air.” That “rules out airplane layovers.” But she says most 50-staters set their own stipulations: having a meal, spending the night, going to a historic site or spending time with a local.
Jefferson George visited 50 states in 50 days. He drove to the lower 48, starting in Maine and ending in Seattle, then flew to Alaska and before noon on day 50, made it to Hawaii. But he didn’t just set foot in a place to check it off: “I wanted to see something of note in each state, whether it was an established attraction like the North Rim of the Grand Canyon or something maybe a little more obscure like the first paved road in America in a little town, Bellefontaine, Ohio.”
For some, the trips offer solace. Jen Miller, author of Running: A Love Story (Seal Press, 2016), set out to see the 18 states she hadn’t visited after her dog died and she was forced to sell her house “because of a terrible neighbour.” She got through the 18 in just one summer, and along the way, adopted a new dog in Boise, Idaho.
Kris Nazar, who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Poland in 1986, worked as a truck driver and drove a semi through the lower 48. He crossed off Alaska when he got a job helping to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 and plans to see Hawaii with his wife in 2019 as a 25th wedding anniversary trip.
You have to touch the ground and breathe the air (for a state visit to count).